Sunday, June 20, 2010

A Fly in the Ointment

Matt and I had a fantastic vacation in Victoria and just got back last night. We had great flights, watched the Book of Eli on the plane, and managed to get home around midnight.

After church this morning and an afternoon nap, I started making a grocery list so Matt and I could have sustenance this week, since we tried to leave as bare of cupboards as possible before our trip. I forget now what I was looking for - garlic or peanut butter or something - when I looked in the pantry under our kitchen counter and realized there was debris all over everything. "What would cause that?" I thought, then it hit me. Rodents. Poop. The debris was poop (not the word I used to describe it to Matt, who was in the living room, because when it's in your cupboards, in your home, "poop" doesn't quite capture the essence of those little brown pieces). Mice had a house party in our cupboard while we were away, probably drunk on cornmeal, eating and pooping, smoking cigarettes and listening to mouse rap at top volume.

Matt and I made a second list - things to buy at Walmart, including gloves and masks, poison, and air-tight plastic tubs. We bought what we needed (including groceries!) and came home to wage war - emptying our cupboards into our dining room, sorting contaminated food from what was still good, and bleaching the smell out of our pantry.

Matt's going to call the super tomorrow and see what he says. I am hopeful that the problem is just that our kitchen is adjacent to the stairwell, we were gone for a week and a half, and we were noobs to put food in that pantry that wasn't gnaw-proof. I have high hopes that bleach and lack of anything to eat whatsoever will resolve the rodent issue. We also have a trap set and some poison. Matt might buy concrete later this week to close up their hole. Nimoy is staying with our friend for an extra night.

It's okay so far - we'll see how things go over the next couple of days and how Matt and I both hold up in our re-chaotic apartment, but for now I feel two notches tougher and just pray it's not a long-term situation.